Whenever anyone measures educational success, East Asian countries are always top scorers. But in a recent league table (排名表）, a European country, Finland, was top of the class. 【小题1】 Britain was at No. 6. What is the secret of Finland and South Korea’s success?

In South Korea the school day is long — typically 7 or 8 hours, followed by hours of private tutoring in the evenings. 【小题2】 Worries about the effects of late night cramming (补习) led the government to force cramming schools to close by 10 pm.

Finnish children spend the least time in class in the developed world, often finishing just after lunch. Private tuition is uncommon. The British school day is quite long in comparison, about 6 hours.

The South Korean education system, like many in Asia, is extremely competitive. Finnish education is far less competitive. 【小题3】 British schools again occupy the middle ground, with quite high levels of competition for places at university, and schools and universities battling to come top of league tables for everything from exam results to student satisfaction.

South Korea and Finland both do well, yet their education systems are so different. 【小题4】 Well, there are some similarities in South Korea and Finland. 【小题5】 Those attitudes can’t change quickly. But it can be done.

In 1968 Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson set an intelligence test for a class of primary school children at "Oak School" (an invented name) in San Francisco. The teachers were told that the intelligence test bad two purposes. Firstly, it would measure the IQ of the children and secondly it would predict 20% of students who, no matter what their performance to date was like, would be likely to make the most progress during the next school year. The teachers were then told who the predicted top improvers would be.

At the end of the school year, eight months later, the intelligence test was carried out again and, perhaps not surprisingly, the results showed that the 20% of children who had been predicted to improve the most, did in fact do so. They showed, on average, an increase of 12 IQ points on the test, compared with an increase of only 8 points for the other children.

But the fact is that no results of any test were used to predict who would be the top performers. Instead, the lucky children who the teachers were told would be the top improvers were given this label as a matter of chance. This study shows that the label that you are given, and your interaction(互动) with others who notice that label, can have a big influence on the results that you achieve. This phenomenon(现象)has been called the Rosenthal effect. It is also known as the Pygmalion effect, related most famously to the George Bernard Show play Pygmalion , which shows the effect that two men have in changing an untidy flower girl into a well-spoken lady.

For ethical (道德的)reasons the researchers at "Oak School!" only concentrated on trying to produce positive results in the children's performance. However, it is worth asking yourself what the effects on 20% of students considered least likely to improve in the following school year might have been. A frightening thought.

Both my parents were educators, and for the past 40 years, I’ve done the same thing. For years, I have watched people teach. And one of the things that are not often noticed is the importance of relationships. Someone says that no important learning can happen without an important relationship. That’s true. Kids may not even learn from people they don’t like.

How do I build relationships with kids and look after kids? I once gave a test — 20 questions. A student missed 18. I put a “+2” on his paper and a big smiling face. I said to him, “You got two right. You didn’t miss them all. And when we review this, won’t you do better?” He said, “Yes, I can do better.” You see, “-18” may be a blow to his pride, but “+2” said, “I am not all bad.”

And for years, I watched my mother take the time at recess (课间休息) to review, go on home visits in the afternoon, and buy small gifts for kids. After she retired (退休), some of her kids came and said to her, “You know, Ms. Walker, you made a difference in my life. You made me feel like I was somebody.” When my mama died, there were so many students at her funeral (葬礼). It brought tears to my eyes, not because she was gone, but because she left a treasure of relationships that could never disappear. Can we have more relationships? Of course, yes. And we teach anyway, no matter what kinds of kids we have.

Teaching and learning should bring joy. How influential our world would be if we had kids who were not afraid to take risks, Who were not afraid to think, and who had a champion (拥护者)! Every child should have a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, and who understands the influence of connection and believes that they can become the best.